Download or read book An Invitation to Kagura Hidden Gem of the Traditional Japanese Performing Arts written by David Petersen and published by David Petersen. This book was released on 2006-12-13 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richly illustrated, and based largely on sources inaccessible to the non-Japanese speaker, this book provides a rare glimpse into kagura (Shinto theater), a performance style with roots predating even noh drama. Coverage includes the history of the art; the kagura stage; schools of performance; synopses of plays and ceremonies; movement and choreography; kagura costumes; masks and mask-making; implements, decorations and special effects; the music of kagura; and related folk arts. There are also additional sections with comparative materials on noh and kabuki. A new world of theater awaits...
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife 3 volumes written by Jonathan H. X. Lee and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 1498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive compilation of entries documents the origins, transmissions, and transformations of Asian American folklore and folklife. Equally instructive and intriguing, the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife provides an illuminating overview of Asian American folklore as a way of life. Surveying the histories, peoples, and cultures of numerous Asian American ethnic and cultural groups, the work covers everything from ancient Asian folklore, folktales, and folk practices that have been transmitted and transformed in America to new expressions of Asian American folklore and folktales unique to the Asian American historical and contemporary experiences. The encyclopedia's three comprehensive volumes cover an extraordinarily wide range of Asian American cultural and ethnic groups, as well as mixed-race and mixed-heritage Asian Americans. Each group section is introduced by a historical overview essay followed by short entries on topics such as ghosts and spirits, clothes and jewelry, arts and crafts, home decorations, family and community, religious practices, rituals, holidays, music, foodways, literature, traditional healing and medicine, and much, much more. Topics and theories are examined from crosscultural and interdisciplinary perspectives to add to the value of the work.
Download or read book Image of Intangibility A Synergy of Lao Tsu s Tao Te Ching and 108 Mandalas written by David Petersen and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-04-17 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aesthetics of the mandala and the subtle power of the Tao create a unique opportunity for personal transformation. Combining the literary impact of materials from "A Fresh Look at the Way and its Virtues" with the artistic impact of 108 mandalas, this synergy of sacred circles and text is a potent tool for holistic meditation. The result is a book that at once soothes the mind while feeding the soul!
Download or read book Survivors The A bombed Trees of Hiroshima written by David Petersen and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, built at what was once the hypocenter of an atomic blast, is the most visible sign of the city's renaissance as a force for peace in 21st century politics. But it is not the only reminder of the spirit of Hiroshima. Less well-known are the scores of ?survivors? dotting the metropolitan landscape. These treasured trees, shrubs, and groves date from before the bombing on August 6th 1945. They were spared from annihilation, and are now carefully tended by the schools, homes, temples, and shrines entrusted by fate with their care. Based on a three-year stay in the city by the authors, this pictorial journey into the heart of Hiroshima documents more than 50 sites and 75 trees. There are maps, bilingual place names and addresses, snapshots of local culture, and overviews of each species of plant. Never-before published translations of essays by the a-bomb survivor Tamiki Hara are also included as meditations on the meaning of peace in difficult times.
Download or read book An Introduction to Japanese Folk Performing Arts written by Terence A. Lancashire and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japanese folk performing arts incorporate a body of entertainments that range from the ritual to the secular. They may be the ritual dances at Shinto shrines performed to summon and entertain deities; group dances to drive away disease-bearing spirits; or theatrical mime to portray the tenets of Buddhist teachings. These ritual entertainments can have histories of a thousand years or more and, with such histories, some have served as the inspiration for the urban entertainments of no, kabuki and bunraku puppetry. The flow of that inspiration, however, has not always been one way. Elements taken from these urban forms could also be used to enhance the appeal of ritual dance and drama. And, in time, these urban entertainments too came to be performed in rural or regional settings and today are similarly considered folk performing arts. Professor Terence Lancashire provides a valuable introductory guide to the major performance types as understood by Japanese scholars.
Download or read book The Folk Performing Arts written by Barbara E. Thornbury and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addresses issues concerning the survival and preservation of traditional culture by examining Japan's folk performing arts and the public policies that affect them.
Download or read book A History of Japanese Theatre written by Jonah Salz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-14 with total page 1066 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan boasts one of the world's oldest, most vibrant and most influential performance traditions. This accessible and complete history provides a comprehensive overview of Japanese theatre and its continuing global influence. Written by eminent international scholars, it spans the full range of dance-theatre genres over the past fifteen hundred years, including noh theatre, bunraku puppet theatre, kabuki theatre, shingeki modern theatre, rakugo storytelling, vanguard butoh dance and media experimentation. The first part addresses traditional genres, their historical trajectories and performance conventions. Part II covers the spectrum of new genres since Meiji (1868–), and Parts III to VI provide discussions of playwriting, architecture, Shakespeare, and interculturalism, situating Japanese elements within their global theatrical context. Beautifully illustrated with photographs and prints, this history features interviews with key modern directors, an overview of historical scholarship in English and Japanese, and a timeline. A further reading list covers a range of multimedia resources to encourage further explorations.
Download or read book Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan written by Lafcadio Hearn and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan by Lafcadio Hearn, first published in 1894, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.
Download or read book Chinese and Japanese Music Dramas written by J. I. Crump and published by U OF M CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinese and Japanese Music-Dramas is the result of a conference on the relations between Chinese and Japanese music-drama held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on October 1–4, 1971. In addition to the Association for Asian Studies, four U-M departments participated in the conference: the Center for Japanese Studies, the Center for Chinese Studies, the School of Music, and the Speech Department. One important inspiration for the creation of such an interdisciplinary conference was the fact that each participant had found, after years of individual research on music-drama in East Asia, consistent frustration caused by attempts to deal on their own with multiple cultural and technical problems. Another motivating force was an awareness among many members of the four disciplines involved that the topic is in fact one of the largest untouched fields of scholarly endeavor in both Asian and theatrical studies. The collection opens with J. I. Crump’s exploration of the Ming commentators who began to subject Yüan musical drama to the same critiques as other literature from the past. In the second chapter, Rulan Chao Pian looks to the structure of arias in Peking Opera for clues about what distinguishes this art form. William P. Malm turns to three key sources for the performance conventions of Japanese Noh drama to glean any Sino-Japanese music relationships that exist in technical terms and practices. In the fourth essay, Carl Sesar analyzes a Noh play that stages the tension between Chinese influence and Japanese originality. Roy E Teele concludes the volume with a formal study of Noh play structure to assess lineages of influence from Chinese dramatic forms. After each contribution, the editors print a transcript of the conference participants’ discussion of that paper, providing the reader with a detailed and nuanced view of how the contributors understood and responded to each other’s work.
Download or read book Matsuri and Religion written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-08-30 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines matsuri (festivals) from both urban and rural communities in Japan, showing their interconnectedness to religious life. Based on ethnographic research, authors explore historical change, identity, affect, cultural heritage, tourism, and the intersection of religion with politics.
Download or read book Japanese Plays and Playfellows written by Osman Edwards and published by . This book was released on 1901 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Edo Culture written by Kazuo Nishiyama and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1997-04-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nishiyama Matsunosuke is one of the most important historians of Tokugawa (Edo) popular culture, yet until now his work has never been translated into a Western language. Edo Culture presents a selection of Nishiyama’s writings that serves not only to provide an excellent introduction to Tokugawa cultural history but also to fill many gaps in our knowledge of the daily life and diversions of the urban populace of the time. Many essays focus on the most important theme of Nishiyama’s work: the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries as a time of appropriation and development of Japan’s culture by its urban commoners. In the first of three main sections, Nishiyama outlines the history of Edo (Tokyo) during the city’s formative years, showing how it was shaped by the constant interaction between its warrior and commoner classes. Next, he discusses the spirit and aesthetic of the Edo native and traces the woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e to the communal activities of the city’s commoners. Section two focuses on the interaction of urban and rural culture during the nineteenth century and on the unprecedented cultural diffusion that occurred with the help of itinerant performers, pilgrims, and touring actors. Among the essays is a delightful and detailed discourse on Tokugawa cuisine. The third section is dedicated to music and theatre, beginning with a study of no, which was patronized mainly by the aristocracy but surprisingly by commoners as well. In separate chapters, Nishiyama analyzes the relation of social classes to musical genres and the aesthetics of kabuki. The final chapter focuses on vaudeville houses supported by the urban masses.
Download or read book Traditional Folk Song in Modern Japan written by David W. Hughes and published by Global Oriental. This book was released on 2008-01-31 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese say that ‘folk song is the heart’s home town’. Traditional folk songs (min’yo) from the countryside are strongly linked to their places of origin and continue to play a role there. Today, however, they are also taught as a quasi-art music, arranged for stage and television, quoted in Westernized popular songs and so forth.
Download or read book Essentials of Shinto written by Stuart Picken and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1994-11-22 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shinto is finally receiving the attention it deserves as a fundamental component of Japanese culture. Nevertheless, it remains a remarkably complex and elusive phenomenon to which Western categories of religion do not readily apply. A knowledge of Shinto can only proceed from a basic understanding of Japanese shrines and civilization, for it is closely intermingled with the Japanese way of life and continues to be a vital natural religion. This book is a convenient guide to Shinto thought. As a reference work, the volume does not offer a detailed critical study of all aspects of Shinto. Instead, it overviews the essential teachings of Shinto and provides the necessary cultural and historical context for understanding Shinto as a dynamic force in Japanese civilization. The book begins with an historical overview of Shinto, followed by a discussion of Japanese myths. The volume then discusses the role of shrines, which are central to Shinto rituals. Other portions of the book discuss the various Shinto sects and the evolution of Shinto from the Heian period to the present. Because Japanese terms are central to Shinto, the work includes a glossary.
Download or read book The Old Tea Seller written by Baisao and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poet, Zen Buddhist priest, renowned thinker, and seller of tea — Baisao was all of these things, as well as being a bit of an eccentric. Known to carry large wicker baskets filled with tea utensils through the streets and surrounding hills of Japan's capital, Baisao set up shop wherever he ended up and brewed tea for those who came to enjoy the scenery with him. Establishing a quiet, simple life, Baisao spent his final years composing poetry, brewing tea, and teaching Zen, in the process becoming a well–loved figure. These poems, memoirs, and letters tell us more about this endearing person and trace his long life's profound spiritual journey. This comprehensive translation includes nearly all of Baisao's writings, giving us a deep look at this remarkable man.
Download or read book Puppets of Nostalgia written by Jane Marie Law and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-08 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Puppets of Nostalgia is the first major work in any Western language to examine the ritual origins and religious dimensions of puppetry in Japan. In a lucid and engaging style accessible to the general reader, Jane Marie Law describes the "life, death, and rebirth" of awaji ningyo shibai, the unique form of puppet theater of Awaji Island that has existed since the sixteenth century. Puppetry rites on Awaji helped to maintain rigid ritual purity codes and to keep dangerous spiritual forces properly channeled and appeased. Law conducted fieldwork on Awaji, located in Japan's Inland Sea, over a ten-year period. In addition to being a detailed history and ethnography of this ritual tradition, Law's work is, at a theoretical level, a study of the process and meaning of tradition formation, reformation, invention, and revitalization. It will interest scholars in a number of fields, including the history of religions, anthropology, cultural studies, ritual and theater studies, Japanese studies, and social history. Focusing on the puppetry tradition of Awaji Island, Puppets of Nostalgia describes the activities of the island's ritual puppeteers and includes the first English translation of their performance texts and detailed descriptions of their rites. Because the author has lived on Awaji during extended periods of research, the work includes fine attention to local detail and nuanced readings of religious currents in Japan that affect popular religious expression. Illustrated throughout with rare photographs, the book provides an in-depth view of a four-hundred-year-old tradition never so thoroughly revealed to Western readers. Originally published in 1997. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book Legend in Japanese Art written by Henri L. Joly and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
